Talmud - Ketubot 24b כתובות כ״ד ב׳

Here too, it is referring to a case where the second donkey driver comes with the tools of his trade in his hand, clearly indicating that he too came to sell his produce. Therefore, when the other driver praises his produce, there is room for concern that there was collusion and that in the next city their roles will be reversed. However, when there is no proof of collusion, the Rabbis were not concerned.

The Gemara asks: And where is the solution of Rabbi Ḥama bar Ukva stated? It is stated concerning that which we learned in a mishna (Teharot 7:1): In the case of a potter who fashioned his vessels in ritual purity, and abandoned his pots, and descended to drink water from the river, there is concern that in his absence ritually impure people came into contact with his pots. The inner pots are pure, and the outer pots are impure.

The Gemara asks: But isn’t it taught in a baraita: Both these inner pots and those outer pots are ritually impure? Rabbi Ḥama bar Ukva said: That baraita is referring to a case where the tools of the potter’s trade are in his hand, indicating that he intends to sell his pots. Since all potential buyers touch pots when examining them before purchase, the concern is that among those people there is one who is ritually impure.

The Gemara asks: But isn’t it taught in another baraita: Both these inner pots and those outer pots are ritually pure? Rabbi Ḥama bar Ukva said: That baraita is referring to a case where the tools of the potter’s trade are not in his hand, indicating that he does not intend to sell his pots. Therefore, strangers will not touch them at all.

The Gemara asks: But if so, the ruling in the mishna: The inner pots are pure and the outer pots are impure, under what circumstances can this case be found? When the tools of the potter’s trade are in his hand, all the vessels are impure, and when the tools of the potter’s trade are not in his hand, all the vessels are pure.

The Gemara answers: The tanna of the mishna is referring to a case where the tools of the potter’s trade are not in his hand. However, he leaves his pots adjacent to the public domain, and in an area demarcated from the public domain due to the stakes or other objects that are placed on the sides of the public domain to distance passersby from the walls of the private domain, and due to crowding, people will be pushed to the sides and inadvertently render the outer pots impure. They do not pass close to the inner pots and will not touch the pots to examine them, because they are not for sale.

The Gemara proceeds to cite an additional resolution to the contradiction between the opinions of Rabbi Yehuda and the Rabbis, with regard to collusion in terms of the presumptive status of priests and in terms of produce merchants. And if you wish, say instead that the dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and the Rabbis in the matter of presumptive priestly status is unrelated to collusion. Rather, it is with regard to whether one elevates one who eats teruma to the presumptive status of priesthood for the purpose of lineage that they disagree. Rabbi Yehuda holds that one elevates from teruma to lineage and therefore requires full-fledged testimony by two witnesses to enable the person to partake of teruma. The Rabbis maintain that one does not elevate from teruma to lineage, and each matter is considered separately. For the purpose of partaking of teruma, any testimony is sufficient; for the purpose of lineage, full-fledged testimony by two witnesses is required.

§ A dilemma was raised before the Sages: What is the halakha with regard to elevating from documents indicating that one is a priest, to priestly lineage? The Gemara asks: What are the circumstances? If you say that it is written in the document: I, so-and-so, a priest, signed as a witness, in that case who is testifying about him that he is a priest? He is the only source asserting his priesthood.

The Gemara answers: No, this halakha is necessary in a case where it is written in the document: I, so-and-so, a priest, borrowed one hundred dinars from so-and-so, and witnesses signed the document, what is the halakha? Do the witnesses testify only concerning the loan of one hundred dinars in the document? Or, perhaps they testify concerning the entire matter and confirm with their signatures that every detail written in the document is true, including the fact that the borrower is a priest. With regard to the halakhic ruling, there is a dispute between Rav Huna and Rav Ḥisda. One said: One elevates from documents to priestly lineage, and one said: One does not elevate.

A dilemma was raised before the Sages: What is the halakha with regard to elevating from the lifting of hands for the Priestly Benediction to priestly lineage? Is the presumptive status of a person who recites the Priestly Benediction in the synagogue that of a priest in terms of lineage as well? The Gemara notes: Raise the dilemma according to the one who said: One elevates from teruma to lineage; and raise the dilemma according to the one who said: One does not elevate from teruma to lineage.

The Gemara notes: Raise the dilemma according to the one who said: One elevates from teruma to lineage. In his opinion, perhaps this applies only to teruma, where a non-priest who partakes of teruma performs a transgression whose punishment is death at the hand of Heaven. One would not partake of teruma and risk that punishment if he were not a priest. However, with regard to the Priestly Benediction, where a non-priest who recites it violates a prohibition stated as a positive mitzva, no, one cannot be certain that one would not recite the blessing if he were not a priest. Therefore, one does not elevate from the lifting of hands to priestly lineage. Or, perhaps there is no difference, and in both cases because there is a transgression involved one can assume that he would not risk performing a transgression were he not a priest.

Raise the dilemma according to the one who said: One does not elevate from teruma to lineage. In his opinion, perhaps this applies only to teruma that is eaten in private. Therefore, a non-priest might partake of teruma when he believes that no one is watching. However, with regard to the lifting of hands, which is recited in public [parhesya], if one is not a priest, he would not be insolent to the extent that he would comport himself like a priest in public. Therefore, although partaking of teruma is not a clear indicator that he is a priest, reciting the Priestly Benediction is a clear indicator. Or perhaps, there is no difference, and due to the concern lest a non-priest partake of teruma in private and recite the Priestly Benediction in public, neither action can facilitate elevating the person to the presumptive status of a priest in terms of lineage.

There is a dispute with regard to the halakhic ruling between Rav Ḥisda and Rabbi Avina. One said: One elevates from the Priestly Benediction to lineage, and one said: One does not elevate. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said to Rava: What is the halakha with regard to elevating from the lifting of hands to lineage? Rava said to him: There is a dispute between Rav Ḥisda and Rabbi Avina.

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak asked Rava: What is the halakha? Rava said to him: I know and base the halakhic ruling on a baraita, as it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yosei says: Great is the legal authority of presumptive status, as one may rely upon it in determining halakhic practice, as it is stated: “And of the children of the priests: The children of Habaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name. These sought their register of the genealogy, but it was not found; therefore were they deemed tainted and put from the priesthood. And the Tirshatha said unto them that they should not partake of the most sacred items, until there stood up a priest with Urim VeTummim” (Ezra 2:61–63).

Rabbi Yosei explains: Nehemiah said to the priests whose status was uncertain: You maintain your presumptive status. Of what did you partake in the Babylonian exile? It was the consecrated items eaten in the outlying areas, i.e., teruma. Here too, you may continue to partake of the consecrated items eaten in the outlying areas, but you may not partake of offerings, with regard to which you have no presumptive status of priesthood. The Gemara asks: And if it enters your mind to say that one elevates from the lifting of hands to lineage, they will come to elevate those priests whose status was uncertain to priestly status in terms of lineage, since they lifted their hands and recited the Priestly Benediction in exile.

The Gemara answers: Here it is different. There was no concern lest they elevate them to lineage because their presumptive status was undermined by the fact that they did not partake of offerings like the other priests. As, if you do not say that one relies on the fact that their status was undermined, according to the one who said: One elevates from teruma to lineage, since they partake of teruma, there should be concern lest they come to elevate them to lineage. Rather, is the reason that this is not a concern not due to the fact their presumptive status was undermined, and it is clear to all that there is uncertainty with regard to their status as priests? However, one may not infer from the time of Nehemiah to a time when all priests eat teruma and recite the Priestly Benediction, and there is no factor that indicates that they are anything less than full-fledged priests. Perhaps, then, one elevates from teruma and from the lifting of hands to lineage.

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Ketuvot 24b explores rabbinic debate over a potter's ritual purity status, weighing evidence of trade tools to determine contamination risk from strangers.